Navigation is also more unified than with iTunes, which still hasn't found a smooth way to integrate video files and podcasts into a general media library. With the Apple player, you use entirely different interfaces for the different media types. In WMP 11, though, the interface looks the same for all content types in all locations, so you browse, search, add, and delete photos no differently than music or videos. Searching for and editing content on portable devices works the same way as well. Windows Media Player 10 has a poorly integrated navigation system, so I'm pleased to see such a consistent one now.

During setup, the new media player searches your entire PC for compatible files and adds them to your library. If you're like me, though, you've got all kinds of cruddy audio files on your drive, and as happened with me, they'll end up in your library. I cleared out the whole list and started over, but on the second try, I specified the folders to be searched. The process wasn't as intuitive as iTunes' Add Folder command but was easy enough.

Once the player has built your library, the default view divides your music by album, with the artwork and artist info on the left, followed by track information. I love being able to browse by artwork, but in these days of Bit Torrents, indie music, and downloaded singles, large chunks of your collection will probably be missing such images. No worries: Half of my collection had no art, but when I started WMP the next day, Presto! It was magically there. Of course, if you don't want to browse by artwork, you can always use a simple List view.

In a few instances, WMP didn't find album art or had incomplete ID3 info, forcing me to search the database myselfa bit cumbersome, as I had to associate tracks to the album one by one. But as I did so, the software kept updating metadata, so most albums worked themselves out on their own. I was surprised by the depth of the ID3 catalog, supplied by All Music Guide. An album by my own band, Mere, automatically retrieved album art and ID3 info, despite having sold only 3,000 copies or so.

There was a hubbub a few months ago concerning privacy with the iTunes Mini Store because it phones home to transmit info about your listening (as do several of the popular players). For those with such concerns, the WMP 11 setup asks you if you'd like to disable the auto-connect capabilities, which are set on by default. At any time, you can turn off features that require connecting to the Internet.

The window layout is fairly straightforward. The familiar tree navigation, reminiscent of WMP 10 and iTunes, sits on the far left side and lets you select among views: Album, Artist, Song,, and others. Back and Forward buttons that look like those in Internet Explorer 7 reside at the top left and greatly simplify navigation.Continue reading

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Kyle Monson is the Senior Editor for PCMag.com. He oversees and edits PCMag.com’s home page and product news coverage, and helps out with site maintenance and editing. He also oversees feature projects like the Top 100 Web Sites, and writes reviews and news stories.
Kyle is the Founding Editor of AppScout, a PCMag.com-affiliated blog covering software and Web applications.
Before joining the PC Magazine staff, Kyle wrote for Newsweek and several daily newspapers. He has a BA in Communications (Print Journalism) from Brigham Young University.
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